The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-07-22
death IN THE POT"
More About Food Authorizations in New
York City.


York City.
Especial Correspondence
4, NEW YORK, July II.
Gotham has discovered that, while its
whisky is tolerably pure, its milk is badly
adulterated Since my first interview with
City Physician Edison, published in these col
umns some three weeks ago, there has been u
sort of rivalry in hunting out food adultera-
tions Everything goes by "fads" in New
York, and the latest "fad" is in studying the
common life of the very poor. After 'sluln-
ming" comes food investigation; and just now
both police and humanitarians are active on
account of the hot weather and heavy NOR
tality. The deaths in this city now exceed the
births. In the week ending July 2 there were
275 marriages, GA births and ,024 deaths, and
of these deaths f97 were in tenement houses
and IA in public institutions of a charitable
nature. On the I'd of July 1913 infants died,
the largest number on one day for many
months. Now, how much of this mortality
is due to adulterated foods
In my first interview with DR.. Edson, he
insisted that very little food indeed was
adulterated, but very much contaminated;
later developments have shaken his faith a
little in the first statement, as there is legal
proof of great deal of adulteration. AS he
had given me some hard words in chemistry
sought further Information as to the
physical effect of the adulterants
at must be remembered" said DR.. Edison,
"that very much of the fraud consists in add
ing materials that are harmless, such as
water in milk, flour in mustard and the like;
and at the worst such an adulteration is only
a fraud-that is, it introduces into the
stomach a substance which is not food,
though not poison" ...
"But what about those chemical products
with the hard to spell namesN
observation-disclosures of lime, as told you
before, is a powerful irritant and we found
where very bad effects had followed the use
of it in coloring flour for imitation mustard.
Chromate of lead, another coloring substance
has produced very bad effects. We had one
case of acute lead poisoning in a child from
eating candy so colored. Fuchsine is what
we call the arsenical aniline color in artificial
jelly, and some children have been made
very sick by it. In medicines there is less
adulteration, because they are mostly in the
hands of those likely to detect it; but we find
quinine which is half sugar of milk"
''And how does thct affect the victim?"
"Oh. the sugar of milk does not affect him
at all-thats the trouble. The patient takes
the usual dose and finds, or the doctor finds,
that it wasn't half enough. It's fraud ON
the profession, but the adulterant itself is
harmless. l must insist, however, that the
prevalent notion is wrong-it isn't adulterated
food that does the damage, but containi-
nated-that's what we have to watch"
"Of course there is some malaria here?'
"It is very rare indeed to find evidence Of
malaria south of Forty second street. North
of that it increases to and beyond the Har-
lem; i'll some localities it is very bad Sewer
gas sometimes troubles us, and the Offensive
trades, as they are called, that is the facto-
ries which create vile fumes; this is SO very
important and troublesome that we have q
board of inspectors whose sole duty is to
watch and control them. The manufacturers
are compelled to wash the fumes as we say,
to spray them, to burn them in the furnaces
and i'll other ways to deaden them, and still
they bother us. Another serious evil arises
in the numerous stables These are frequently
cleaned and the stuff sent ont in barees and
dumped in the sea When the tide Is running
out. Then the defeating system is i'm
mense" G a#E
The doctor then gave me the figures ON in
FAINT mortality, from which iJ appeared that
of all the deaths children under years made
As. SO per cent. i'll 1884, 42 79 per cent. in 1885,
and AZ 16 per cent. in 1SS6-not quite half in
any year. j. III. BEADLE.